Only 11 of 2,000 cops test positive for drugs
AT LEAST 11 policemen tested positive for illegal drug use during surprise drug tests administered nationwide over the weekend following the assumption of office of Philippine National Police Director General Ronald de la Rosa.
De la Rosa told reporters that of the 2,405 policemen tested, the urine samples of 11 yielded positive results. He said the specimens would be subjected to further confirmatory tests at the PNP crime laboratory.
Asked if those tested positive—whose identities he did not give—would be automatically relieved, De la Rosa replied: “There will still be another confirmatory test to undertake if they’re going to contest the findings of the first test. Then after that, there will be a precharge investigation and, ultimately, they will be dismissed from the service.”
“So there will be due process. And it will be fast,” he added.
2 ranking officers among them
He said that among those tested positive were two high-ranking police officers.
He said he considered the development “very alarming” even if only 0.37 percent of the 2,405 subjects tested positive.
“Just imagine the ratio and proportion [if applied to the entire PNP]. This is a high percentage [for me]. I have zero tolerance for drugs, so that fact that 11 tested positive, it’s alarming,” he said.
“It’s angering, shameful and hateful to have policemen like these. They’re the ones who are supposed to catch drug addicts but it turns out they are the ones who are drug addicts. They don’t deserve another day in office,” he added.
Meanwhile, De la Rosa said around 20 policemen suspected of involvement in illegal drugs and other activities would be transferred to Mindanao to fight bandits and insurgents.
He expressed disappointment that no one surrendered or gave information to him about drug activities after he gave policemen 48 hours to do so.
‘Ninja’ cops next
“It means they’re stubborn, so they will be softened. I will send them to Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi to fight the Abu Sayyaf,” De la Rosa said.
He said one effort was going after so-called “ninja” policemen, or those who pilfer and resell illegal drugs seized during police operations.
“It takes a ninja to kill a ninja,” he said, adding in jest, “so maybe I’ll buy a bonnet and become a ninja too.”
Meanwhile, law enforcers, aided by an informant who had contacted De la Rosa, dug up on Sunday afternoon about 180 kilos of shabu worth P900 million buried in a vacant lot in Claveria, Cagayan.
The shabu packets were inside seven black bags that were in a plastic ice box buried one meter in the ground, according to PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group head Senior Supt. Albert Ignatius Ferro.
The PNP-AIDG is questioning the owner of the lot, Rene Demaya, and officials about illegal drug activities in the area, according to Ferro.
